ISLAMABAD: Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood on Thursday announced in-person professional assessments can now take place, even as the nation witnessed an increase of 29 percent in the number of new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours.
“NCOC has allowed holding of professional exams/tests etc,” the minister announced in a tweet.
NCOC has allowed holding of professional exams/tests etc. Please apply to Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Islamabad with details of exam centres, number of students and SOPs to be followed. If all arrangements are satisfactory permission will be given promptly
— Shafqat Mahmood (@Shafqat_Mahmood) May 20, 2021
“Please apply to Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Islamabad with details of exam centres, number of students and SOPs [standard operating procedures] to be followed. If all arrangements are satisfactory permission will be given promptly,” he added.
In a statement, the National Command and Operation Center said 4,207 cases were registered on Wednesday against the 3,256 cases reported the previous day, bringing the total caseload of confirmed cases to 890,391.
The rise in new infections came days after the government started to ease anti-pandemic restrictions including the resumption of inter-provincial, inter-city, and intra-city public transport.
The NCOC also allowed educational institutions, restaurants, and tourist destinations to open from May 24 and issued a timeline for a number of other sectors.
However, it announced the educational institutions will open only in districts with less than five percent positivity rate and in a staggered manner, the body announced.
However, shrines, indoor dining, indoor gyms, cinemas, amusement parks, contact sports, festivals, cultural and other events will remain prohibited for an indefinite time.
TRAVELLERS TEST POSITIVE:
60 traveller arriving from Dubai tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar.
NCOC records suggest passengers returning from Gulf countries continue to test positive for Covid-19 despite a mandatory negative RT-PCR test. To date, some 140 samples sent for rapid coronavirus testing have returned positive.
The passengers reached Peshawar from Dubai through a Pakistan International Airlines flight. A second test performed by the airport management on their protest came back positive as well.
The heated protest got to a point where the airport manager had to call an Airport Security Force contingent to control the situation.
NEW CASES:
The government portal keeping track of the outbreak registered 131 new coronavirus-related deaths in the last 24 hours. The total caseload of fatalities reached 19,987 on Wednesday, the NCOC data showed.
The authorities received a contagion rate of 8.23 percent after testing 51,130 samples.
Punjab is the worst-hit region with 331,102 confirmed cases, followed by Sindh province where 303,323 people have been tested positive.
128,033 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 24,223 in Balochistan, 79,789 in Islamabad, 18,469 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and 5,452 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
9,640 people have died from Covid-related complications in Punjab, 4,854 in Sindh, 3,855 in KP, 270 in Balochistan, 740 in Islamabad, 521 in AJK, and 107 in GB.
The authorities have tested 12,603,469 samples since the outbreak in February last year. 804,122 coronavirus patients have recovered whereas 4,517 are in critical condition.
In the last 24 hours, the number of active cases climbed to 66,282. 4,517 of them are receiving treatment in critical care units.
A total of 4,171 people recovered from the disease during the past 24 hours, taking the recoveries to 804,122.
